No you do not – all you need is a university degree. If you have professional teaching experience, schools will generally pay you more, however some schools prefer you to have no experience at all. As teaching ESL is very different from teaching students of your native tongue, starting off with a "clean slate" is sometimes desirable.

It's a good idea to bring money with you to Korea as you will receive your first paycheck at the end of the first working month. $500 is plenty and should hold you until you get paid. Some schools will even give you an advance on your pay for the first month, if you ask.

If you have never lived in a non-English speaking country, you may find it a little difficult to communicate with people at first. However, in no time at all, you'll figure out ways to get your points across, enabling you to buy things, get where you want to go, etc. Most schools will have other foreigners working for them and they will no doubt be more than happy to teach you what you need to know. Remember, you're not alone. It is a good idea to make an effort to learn simple Korean words that will get you out of certain situations that may arise.

Definitely. One of the reasons why a lot of people go to Korea to teach is to save money or pay off student loans. However, money should not be your sole objective; schools are very serious about the education of their students, and expect dedicated teachers who enjoy teaching and who commit themselves to their job. In comparison to most Western countries, Korea is very easy on your wallet: eating, transportation and recreation all come at costs much lower than what you’re used to at home. It is also important to note that smaller cities cost a lot less than larger cities to live in.

It's a good idea to bring respectable working clothes (dress shirts, slacks, blouses, skirts, etc.), even if it's not required by your school. Shaving cream, razors, hair products, etc. can be found everywhere. Deodorant is a tough thing to find, so bring plenty. An excellent aid to help you in Korea is a Lonely Planet guide or a phrase book with some info on the country. To give you a flavor of home, we advise you bring plenty of comfort items such as music, movies and some foods you don't think you will be able to find. Most of all, and it's not a cliché - bring an open mind and a positive attitude.

Yes, it's very easy and inexpensive to travel around Korea. Trains, buses and taxis are very affordable and run at all hours. There is plenty to see and weekend getaways to anywhere in the country are possible as Korea is not very large geographically.

It's an excellent idea to get travel insurance. It's very inexpensive and you can never be too careful. However, your school will assist with your health insurance once you begin working.

Most schools want you to be as comfortable as possible. Accommodations are generally spacious and will include all the amenities you're accustomed to (ie: CD player, TV, VCR, kitchen stuff).

PC rooms are insanely abundant. Did you know Korea has the fastest and most populated online community in the world? It's really cheap (about a dollar an hour) too.

Possibly. There is little risk of catching anything in Korea however you may want to get a Hepatitis shot. Check with your doctor and/or the Korean Embassy. If you plan on going to other countries from Korea, it is easier and much less costly to get additional immunization shots while you’re there.

While obtaining certification in teaching ESL, such as TESOL, CELTA, TEFL or TESL, will give you a better understanding of how to teach English as a second language, it isn’t required by the schools. If you have no experience teaching at all, it is something that you might want to consider, as it will certainly help prepare you for your new job. Schools will usually pay a little bit more per month if you have one of these certificates.

Due to the new rules set out by Korean immigration as of December 15^th, 2007, the visa process is taking longer now than it used to. You should ideally give yourself 2 months to prepare, as delays in this process are somewhat unavoidable. If you have the necessary documents at your disposal, the entire visa process takes about 4-6 weeks. It is also important to note that there will be further delays with the Korean consulates as well as the immigration offices in Korea during the summer when we receive the largest number of applicants.

Definitely. With the visa process taking longer than it used to, we are asking that our teachers take more time in order to prepare everything that they need in advance. If you have not graduated, that isn’t a problem; you will need your university degree in order to get a visa, but you can certainly prepare everything else while you are waiting.

Send us your application anytime - we will get right back to you to arrange a phone consultation so that you are fully informed about this opportunity as well as what you need to do to get yourself to Korea.

Free! We don’t charge our teachers anything for our services, as we get compensated by our schools...so there really is nothing for you to lose, but a lot to gain.

Although recruiters are often seen as money hungry head-hunters, this isn’t always the case and is certainly not the case with us. To put it simply, we base our business on honesty, which we believe is the most important factor in this industry.

What we do for you: We inform you of everything that we feel you need to know about teaching in Korea, as well as how your life is going to be there. We don’t sugar-coat or skip over details just to get you to sign a contract; conversely, we are straight with you as to what you can expect during your time in Korea. There are pros and cons to everything, and we feel that it is our job to inform you of both, in order for you to have the best experience possible. We also guide you through the entire hiring and visa process so that you are fully aware of what you need to do. When your visa is complete, we will arrange your plane ticket for you as well as get you from Incheon Airport in Korea to your school. Finally, we will assist you and answer any questions that you may have at any point during your entire contract. Again, all of this comes at no cost to you.

Contracts are all one year in length. While we have been able to offer 6 month contracts in the past, this is no longer possible. The reasoning behind this is that teachers and students develop relationships, which is important to their learning and confidence; it is therefore important that teachers aren’t coming and going every few months. Teachers sometimes think that they would never be able to last an entire year abroad, but after a short while gone, they wonder how they will ever return home!

In the past, directors always bought tickets for teachers in advance. Unfortunately, some people abused this and went through the entire visa process only to get a free ticket to Korea, leaving the school without a teacher for their students. These days, to ensure that this doesn’t happen, teachers are responsible for buying their ticket to Korea, but are reimbursed the entire amount of their ticket one to two weeks after they arrive. We will make all of the necessary arrangements for you. When you are planning on leaving Korea, your school will pay for your ticket home or the equivalent amount if you choose to go somewhere else.

Definitely. If you are going with your boyfriend or girlfriend and you would like to live together, it is a little bit harder to find positions like these, for the date that you want to start - it is certainly possible, but please take into account that this could take a little bit longer to arrange than would placing a single teacher.

With the new changes made in December of 2007, obtaining your E2 visa now will take you longer. From the time that you have all of your documents ready to be sent to Korea, (please check required documents), it will take 3-5 business days to get to Korea, and about another week or so for the processing to be done there. Once the first part of the process is completed, you then take or send your documents to the consulate. An interview with the consular is also required and your visa will only be completed once the interview is finished. It usually takes 3 days to complete the visa after this is finished but this will depend on the number of applicants the particular consulate has to interview. Since none of these offices can guarantee exactly how long they will take, we usually tell our teachers to start getting prepared 2-3 months in advance to be safe. Don’t worry if this sounds complicated – we’re here to help you each step of the way.

Transcripts are required to authenticate your degree. Officially processed transcripts are required by Korean immigration so as to avoid anyone from acquiring a visa with fake documents. These transcripts can be ordered from the registrar office at your university and need to be in a sealed envelope, with the stamp, seal or crest of the university covering the seal of the envelope to show that it has not been opened. Beside this stamp, there needs to be a signature and a date from the person in the registrar office who is issuing these to you. Any deviation from this will result in your application not being processed by immigration.

To put it simply – cheap. One of the main reasons why Korea is such a popular destination to teach ESL is because you are paid a lot of money, which you are able to save because of the inexpensive cost of living, and because you don’t have to pay for your rent. Eating, drinking and traveling all come at prices far less than you would pay in western countries. To go out to a full Korean barbecue, including beer or alcohol for example, will only set you back less than $20 and to buy a lunch, you’re looking at $3-5. The cost of living will range with personal taste, but in general, Korea gives you the potential to earn and save more money than any other country in Asia.

Korea has four seasons. The summer is generally hot and humid, will the winter is cold but not overly cold, never really going too far below zero. Spring and fall are the two seasons that are recognized as the most pleasant seasons, as the temperature and colors are both quite appealing.